Would you rather “be a voter” or just vote?

Proving that there are folks at Harvard and Stanford who will study just about anything, research from those universities is being used in a new outreach campaign by the city’s Department of Elections to encourage residents to “Be a Voter.”

Apparently, the old standby of simply “Vote!” pales in comparison when it comes to actually getting people to their polling places. A 2008 study by researchers at those vaunted institutions found that participants who were quizzed about “being a voter” were more likely to vote than those who were asked whether they would simply, you guessed it, vote.

In any case, the department has adopted “Be a Voter” as its brand for the June 5 election and is plastering the message on billboards, Muni buses, bus shelters, in newspapers and elsewhere. The department will also send outreach coordinators throughout the city to tell voters about the state’s new open primary system, how to register to vote, and how to request a vote-by-mail ballot. The sessions will be conducted in English, Chinese, Spanish and Russian.

To request an outreach coordinator to come to an event you’re hosting, call (415) 554-6184 or e-mail sfoutreach@sfgov.org.